are gearing up for one of the biggest months in console gaming history. Bumper sales of the
,
and
consoles are expected in April, due to a series of blockbuster game releases during the month.
Nintendo has just announced that it will be releasing one of the most eagerly awaited titles of all time: Mario Kart for the Wii, on 11 April. The Wii has been hindered by a perceived lack of strong games titles over the last year or so. And Mario Kart seems to be the one game that Wii owners have been waiting for.
A further boost for Nintendo in April will be the US launch of Wii Fit, which combines games with an interactive balance board designed to help people keep fit.
Games to boost console sales
It’s been a similar story for the PS3 too. But luckily for PlayStation 3 gamers, Grand Theft Auto IV – another of the most eagerly awaited games of the last few years – is being released on the console on 29 April. It’s also coming out on the Xbox 360 on the same day.
And while bumper sales of the games themselves is great news for both the games publishers and the console manufacturers, that’s not the end of the story.
Because as we have seen in the past, blockbuster game releases also tend to massively boost sales of the consoles themselves. So Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo can probably expect to sell a lot of consoles throughout April and May.
We saw a similar thing happen for the Xbox 360 when exclusive titles Bioshock and Halo 3 were released. Sales of the consoles went through the roof, driving revenue for all involved in the industry.
